[glorian989]

Hello all.

I am going to be honest here and say i don't know what i am looking for. i don't know what works together, and what will give me best results for money! Hopefully someone can help me get a new computer as mine is driving me bananas!!

I currently have:

- GF7025-M2 motherboard
- AMD athlon 64 x2 dual core processor 4600+
- 4gb memory ddr2
- 220gb HDD
- Radeon 5670HD graphics card

Also i will need to get a new case to fit it all in.

My budget is around £500 but can stretch to £700 if it is worth it, i am after a computer for playing games such as Company of Heroes and Skyrim but would like to future proof it for a few years for newer bigger games. (ps i also have a suitable screen mouse keyboard etc)

Many thanks!
Thomas

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glorian989

You have told us most of what we need to know which is very helpful

One question if I may, do you have an OS disk such as Windows 7 and if so what type of disk is it as in full retail, an OEM type provided with a brand name computer or a burned copy, this is important because purchasing a new OS disk reduces the budget that you have for the new hardware.

[phillpower2]

glorian989

You have told us most of what we need to know which is very helpful

One question if I may, do you have an OS disk such as Windows 7 and if so what type of disk is it as in full retail, an OEM type provided with a brand name computer or a burned copy, this is important because purchasing a new OS disk reduces the budget that you have for the new hardware.

[glorian989]

Ah knew i was missing something! I currently have a copy of windows XP (legit i think? from my brother so who knows) But i was likely to upgrade to windows 7 at some point.

[phillpower2]

Some guidance for you regarding the OS;

Just a cautionary note, unless your OS disk is the full retail edition you cannot use it with a new MB as an OEM disk is tied to the original MB it was paired with, to use an OEM disk with a new MB is software piracy and therefore illegal.

Exceptions to the above are 1: If your MB is replaced under warranty and 2: If your MB is replaced out of warranty with an alternative type but same brand due to the original model no longer being available, an upgraded MB however will require the purchase of a new OS licence.
If you have a full retail disk and a product key that is not in use on another computer the OEM restriction/s is/are not the same.

I have put a list of parts together for you but before I provide it can I ask whether or not you have a DVD drive in your present computer that you could reuse, please note that it must be the SATA type, your present MB has both types of slot on it.

[glorian989]

If i do upgrade getting windows 7 is almost definately going to happen. as for my dvd drive this is what i currently have installed

http://www.expertrev.../specifications

not sure how to tell if it is SATA?

[glorian989]

Ah upon researching i believe this is an IDE drive!

[phillpower2]

That drive is available as the IDE and SATA format and you can only tell by the last couple of letters given in the product key description http://www.sony-opti...ndawg170as.html

Check the attachment which shows how you can tell if the device is IDE or SATA + the link for a SATA data cable http://www.amazon.co...70793380&sr=1-2

[glorian989]

Had a friend check it we both agree it is IDE (providing we're both not stupid!)

[phillpower2]

Thanks for confirming the drive type

It is only just under your maximum budget but the build has everything that you require http://uk.pcpartpick...wer2/saved/1Bzx

[glorian989]

Look's good! (Though im not 100% sure what im looking at!) thanks a bunch for picking the parts out, one question? Is windows 8 superior to windows 7? As im not all that keen on the new user interface i've seen?

[phillpower2]

I have kept XP on one of my computers and upgraded the notebook that I am using now to W8 and I must say that I like W8 and it is faster than W7, one thing that I did do though was to install the Start orb back into the taskbar http://lee-soft.com/...start-menu.html Microsoft have listened to the general public and are doing the same so I believe.

For hardware benchmarks see http://www.cpubenchmark.net/

I would have suggested the i5 3570 CPU and the GTX 660Ti video card but I wanted to keep within your budget + the performance difference is not that far apart.

[glorian989]

Alright then! Well i will be going for this as soon as pay day comes around thank you very much for your help!

[phillpower2]

You are most welcome glorian989

A build tutorial to help you provided courtesy of Troy and Artellos respectively http://www.geekstogo...r-own-computer/

Couple of tips for you, once that you have ordered the hardware download any user manuals that you can for items such as the MB, case and video card and familiarize yourself with them, this will help with the build process, before you place all of the new hardware in the case try them outside of it to make sure all items are working, this is often referred to as a barebones set - up or bread-boarding, let us know when all parts have arrived and I will provide some guidance as to how you carry out a barebones set - up.

[glorian989]

Wonderful saved that to my bookmarks to read through!

Also a friend recomended getting a solid state drive and then investing in a bigger HDD later on? Is this worth it in your opinion?

[phillpower2]

SSDs are great for faster boot times and having your favourite programs on for quick access, if you do add one make sure that it is a minimum of 120GB as this will ensure that you have plenty of free storage space available for the many software updates that will be released in the years ahead.

I personally do not use or recommend HDDs any larger than 1TB and prefer to add additional HDDs instead, this is my preference and I base this on the fact that a 1TB HDD is easier to keep backed up than say a 3TB HDD + consider the amount of data that you would lose if a 3TB HDD failed.